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One of the goals of putting up a bounty for a question is to draw attention and a good answer. But after having put up a bounty, if you still don't get an answer for your question or any suggestion as to what amendments in my question can help draw answers or even a hint as to where the answer may lie in the relevant scientific literature, what is the following step, if any, to possibly get any guidance for my question?

Example:- (although two days of bounty are left, a lack of a single response doesn't make the scenario look promising)Prediction of Ionic reduction?

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    $\begingroup$ There are 11 individual questions in your mega-question, maybe that's what's make people unwilling to write an answer... $\endgroup$
    – F'x Mod
    Commented Sep 23, 2013 at 11:07
  • $\begingroup$ @F'x I just needed to know how to proceed in general, the general modus operandi, taking any one as an example. Well, i'll rephrase the question now. $\endgroup$
    – stochastic13
    Commented Sep 23, 2013 at 12:12

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If you've written a question that was not put on hold but has yet to receive an answer, there's a good chance that something about the question could be the cause. Make sure that:

  • The question is not too broad, and does not require a term length paper for an answer
  • You've clearly stated what you want in an answer
  • You've read your question out loud to ensure that it reads well
  • You've clearly stated where you're stuck, so that an answer can be tailored for you

That said, sometimes questions are just really hard, and answers come only opportunistically when someone with a bit of rare knowledge or expertise happens to read it. That's why we have share links for every question, so that you can promote it on services like Twitter and Facebook.

You can also use that special share link in IM or email and get credit toward a badge as you invite others to help you.

I don't have a very good grasp of the domain, but the question looks (as F'x commented) like a few questions wrapped into one. Is it possible to break that out a bit? There's nothing wrong with asking a series of questions that could conceivably be asked all at once for the sake of brevity and separation of concerns.

I'd recommend reducing it as much as you can. You can flag the post for moderator attention to have the bounty refunded temporarily, just indicate when you flag as 'other' that you fully intend to offer it again after you've refined the question. It is, however, at the moderator's discretion, and I can't promise anything.

As a user, this is what I would do:

  • Edit the question and reduce it to a single question
  • Flag the question as 'other' and explain that you'd like to offer the bounty again on a more answerable version of your question, and request that mods refund it so you can immediately restart the bounty
  • Pay attention to any comments you receive and make sure you provide timely clarification as warranted.

Remember, bounties come with no guarantees - they're just a tool that can help convince folks to put a little extra work on an answer, or get a question noticed more. If they fail repeatedly, you're probably asking for a little more than a little :)

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